I think that one has to decide what label they use to describe themselves. It shouldn't be up to others to decide what label they are, even if they fit into a certain label.
As some said labels do help to communicate but how many here want to wear a label cd or transgender when they walk about town. Most here write posts of how they want to blend in, blending in means not labeling oneself while out and about. Again, labeling and talking about one self on a forum is OK but to have to label themselves as they walk about seems uncomfortable. There were even post where the question was what to do if one encounters a cd in public. Most said leave the person alone, they probably don't want to be known as a cd, they want to just go about their day as a woman.
Take the label gay, we all know what that label means but there are some in society that engage in gay sex but would violently argue with you if you called them gay. There was a segment of society that I grew up with in the Bronx and they had the belief that only one man is gay during sex with each other while the other was straight. And to tell the straight guy he was gay would have been met with violence upon the person saying he was gay. Same goes for some bars I went to. There would be an obviously looking man, the only thing he was wearing a dress. Another man would have sex with this man and not label himself as gay, even though the label fits. I am on a forum for sex workers. I can't use the word they use cause cd.com banned the label they use. The men on that site love these girls cause they still have their male naughty bits. And no matter how much these men adore the maleness of these girls if one was to call these men gay, they would get very angry. I called them gay just to get them angry.
There was a guy who I met in a bar and he demanded to be called a woman even though he didn't have any woman traits. I had a long discussion with him about it, I was with the old style girls and thought one should try and look the part. But he was either honestly a woman or a very good debater, cause in the end if that was what he wanted and who was I to say otherwise.
I started my journey before there was a word transgender. Some say the word transgender is old but among the girls I knew in the streets and bars, none used the term transgender. Now that a group of elite scholars, psychiatrists and political activists now say that is the label for me, why should I accept it? I was OK living my life without that label, why should people put upon me a label. The label might describe me but I might not want to be part of an umbrella. Same goes for a cd who was a cd before the label transgender came about. Maybe they want to known as a cd and not the broader term transgender.
I am for choice. I believe it's up to each individual to choose what they want to be known as. Anyways whose to say that 5 or 10 years down the road these scholars decide that a new label should be used. Does that make the old label wrong. I think using labels to discuss matters like on a web forum is cool. It does help to describe things. But out and about the world is much different. One just wants to live and do their business without a scarlet T on their dress. Labels are ok if the person wants to use that to describe themselves. If the person doesn't want to use a certain label then it's up to others to accept that.
